Taiwan Tower Design Sports Wind Turbines

The design challenge of the international Taiwan Tower competition? To commemorate the centennial anniversary of the founding of Taiwan with an iconic tower offering views of the Taiwan Strait, built with environment responsibility and alternative energy in mind. The response of the Dutch architectural firm NL Architects, pictured here, is known as the Tower of Power.

While it might sound like the sound system of an eighties metal band, the Tower of Power (which comes to us via Designboom) is in fact a a 300-meter (984 foot) high freestanding tower with sightseeing and recreational functions designed to meet the competition’s goal of making the tower “a model of green building for the 21st century.”

image via Designboom

Towards that end, the Tower of Power features 2000 rotors that together produce 8 megawatts of electricity–eschewing the traditional appearance of wind turbines for something altogether more sculptural and modern, rotating like so many kinetic sculptures on the the tower’s unusual exoskeleton. In this way, the Tower of Power is more than an iconic symbol and sight-seeing destination, it’s an actual green energy generator.

image via Designboom

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Susan DeFreitas has covered all manner of green technology for EarthTechling since 2009. She is a graduate of Prescott College for the Liberal Arts and the Environment, and has a background in marketing green businesses. Her work on green living has been featured in Yes! Magazine, the Utne Reader and Natural Home.